


Ambush

by flootzavut



Series: Lie to NCIS [24]
Category: Lie to Me (TV), NCIS
Genre: Angst, Awesome Foursome, Crossover, Emily/Kate friendship, ExK, F/M, Friendship, Humour, JxK, Kate Lives, Kibbs, Lie to NCIS, Mention of Romantic Relationships, Other, foursomeverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-06
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-07-29 03:01:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flootzavut/pseuds/flootzavut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emily takes the chance to ambush Kate in hopes Kate will help get her stupid dad off his ass...</p><p>Crib notes for the fandom blind included.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ambush

**Author's Note:**

> Kate lives!AU. Post LTM canon, playing fast and loose with NCIS canon as it suits me, in a 'verse where Kate is still alive and working for NCIS.
> 
> NCIS folks: Gill and Cal are experts in lie detection, using facial expression (reading emotion), vocal stress analysis and other expertise. The Lightman Group helps various law enforcement agencies and other people when the truth is at stake. Emily is Cal's daughter.
> 
> LTM folks: Kate and Gibbs are federal agents who work for NCIS, investigating crimes affecting the US Navy or Marines. Kate is ex-Secret Service. Gibbs is a team leader and is reknowned for his gut instincts.

* * *

_**Ambush** _

* * *

 

Emily's been biding her time, but when she discovers Kate working alone in her dad's office, she figures it's a sign.

"Hey." Now it comes down to it, she's not sure how to start. She doesn't know Kate all that well, but this doesn't seem like something she can talk to Gibbs about. She can't imagine he'd be up for joining in some crazy matchmaking scheme.

"Hi, Em." At least Kate seems happy enough to see her, closing the file and carefully setting it aside.

Emily sits on the couch opposite Kate. "What are you doing?"

Kate shrugs a shoulder. "Oh, boring paperwork. Nothing urgent." She rolls her eyes. "If anyone tries to tell you being a fed is all excitement and guns and chasing bad guys, don't believe them."

"I'll bear that in mind. Somehow I don't think dad would be too thrilled if I said I wanted to be a Special Agent anyway."

"I think he'd kill me and Gibbs, for starters."

"Probably!"

The ice has officially been broken, but Emily still doesn't quite know how to broach the topic. She chews on her lip.

"What's up?" Kate grins when Emily looks up, startled. "If I couldn't spot someone with a burning question, I would make a terrible investigator, let alone being any help here."

Emily laughs. She can't argue with that. "Well, um... see... you know my dad and Gill?"

Kate's eyes crinkle at the corners, and Emily is just grateful Kate is kind enough to suppress her amusement. "Yeah?"

Okay, so it was a pretty dumb question. "I mean... you know they're crazy about each other, right?" She almost adds 'like you and Gibbs', but she doesn't know Kate well enough yet to actually mention it (even though it's super obvious), and wouldn't want to embarrass her anyhow, especially when she's being so nice.

Kate's face softens. "Yes."

Judging by Kate's expression... well, Emily has an ally here.

"So..." Oh, she should've planned further ahead. She pulls a face. "See, I've been trying to prod them for months... years. But they're useless. Both of them, but especially my dad."

Kate shakes her head and giggles. "Dads always are a bit clueless." He expression turns mischievous. "And your dad... well, he's sort of a special case, isn't he?"

It's Emily's turn to giggle. "That's one way of putting it."

"He's an interesting guy."

Emily laughs again. "You're really good at finding euphemisms to say he's totally certifiable."

Kate goes a little pink, but she smiles. "It's a necessary skill when you've worked at NCIS for eight years..."

They grin at each other, and Emily suddenly feels a whole lot better about this conversation. Kate clearly gets it. "So, having established my dad's a nutcase... I'm hoping you can help. I'm running out of ideas, and in a few months I could be at Stanford or Berkeley or somewhere else equally far away, and... look, I know he's an adult, supposedly, and maybe I shouldn't be meddling, but I know him. He needs someone. I really don't want him to be alone."

Kate tilts her head to one side. "Maybe when he's ready to admit it to himself..." She sounds about as convinced as Emily feels.

"The thing is-" Emily pauses. It's not like she was told in confidence, after all, not exactly, and this is important, but she needs a moment to convince herself this is the right thing to do. She takes a deep breath. "He is. He has. He loves her. Like, really loves her. I asked him straight out, and he admitted it. But that was ages ago, and he's done nothing, and he has no good reason for just-" She waves her hands around "-sitting on his ass. I'll be going to college, and he's going to be on his own, and he's, you know, him, and he needs someone. He needs Gillian." She shakes her head and sighs. "And it's not just dad. I know she loves him, too."

Kate studies Em's face. Emily's familiar with that look, but she doesn't mind. Given the stakes, she's okay with Kate considering things carefully, and she makes no effort to hide her emotions.

Eventually, Kate leans forward, and when she speaks again she's lowered her voice. "Can you keep a secret?"

Emily nods eagerly. "Definitely. Ask my dad, I drive him up the wall, I-"

Kate grins, and Emily suddenly realises she's doing a really good impression of her blabbermouth father. "I mean... yes, I can totally keep a secret."

"Gill and I have a plan."

For a second, Emily's confused, then the penny drops. "To get them together?"

There's a flicker of something on Kate's face, but it's gone too fast for Emily to make sense of it. She's picked up a few tricks from her dad, but she doesn't have the training or the years of experience.

It doesn't matter anyway, because once it's gone, Kate's smiling widely. "Yes, to get them together."

"Excellent!" Emily bounces up and down in her seat for a moment like she's eight. She can't help it. She's been waiting for her dad to get a clue for so long now, for him do something about this.

Gillian's her stepmom already in almost every way that counts, except for the way Emily's certain will make them both happy. She'd hoped for an ally; she hadn't dreamed there'd be a plan, or that Gillian would be a willing participant. "How can I help?"

She can see it this time when Kate's momentarily alarmed by the question. "Um. I don't know if-"

"Please. Honestly, I can help, I promise, I'm so good at secret keeping, and I have, like, a PhD in dealing with my dad, and-"

Kate cringes. Emily really can't imagine why. Kate being surprised she wants to help seems a bit odd. Ofcourse she wants to be part of it. She's been waiting and planning for this since long before Kate even knew Gill or her dad, and part of her is ready to get angry, to demand she deserves to be in on it.

But Kate isn't just surprised; she looks horrified by the notion, which is even stranger, and which stops Emily in her tracks.

"I- I don't think... um." Kate's going pink, and her mouth is opening and closing without anything actually coming out. It's as if she's having an internal debate, and neither side is really winning.

Emily is confused and a little fascinated (she is her father's daughter, after all) and simultaneously feels bad for embarrassing Kate, even though she has no idea how she did it.

Eventually Kate shakes her head and takes a deep breath. "I- look, it's sort of complicated, and I can't... I can't really explain, okay? I know you just want what's best for your dad and for Gillian. Well, so do I, I promise."

Emily may not have her dad's expertise, but she can tell Kate's completely sincere. There's a pause, during which Kate holds her breath as she waits to find out if Emily's going to leave this alone or not. Emily can practically see Kate willing her to be okay with being left in the dark.

Emily is still desperately intrigued, and she concedes with bad grace - but she concedes. "There really isn't anything I can do?

Kate smiles, both relieved and sympathetic. "There really isn't. But..." Her smile widens. "Actually, I was wrong. There is one thing you can do. Remind your dad Gill isn't going to wait around forever... that she deserves to have someone special, doesn't deserve to be alone just because he's scared. Ask him how he'll feel if Gillian finds someone, and all he can do is watch and be jealous and know he missed his chance? Tell him that."

Emily grins. "I can do that." She studies Kate's face for a moment. "You're going to set him up, aren't you? Arrange for him to see something that'll make him jealous?"

Kate blinks, then shakes her head and laughs. "Sometimes I forget you're a Lightman, Emily. I should've known you would put the pieces together."

"And you're really not going to tell me what?"

The colour returns to Kate's face with interest, her gaze suddenly fixed on her hands. "I'm really not," she says, firmly.

"Spoilsport."

Kate shrugs.

"You realise this just makes me more curious?"

"Yes, I realise."

"I bet I could figure it out."

Kate peers up at her with a pleading expression. "Would it help if I begged you not to try?"

Emily pouts. "Okay, okay." She sighs. "You're lucky I'm not actually my dad, he wouldn't give in this easily."

Kate chuckles. "True. He's..."

"Special," they say in unison, then laugh.

"And you really think this will work?"

Kate nods. "I think it's got a really good chance."

"I hope you're right. Gill's always going to be, like... well she's practically my stepmom. And I love her. I want her and dad to be happy." She shakes her head. "And I would love Gill to really be an official part of our family, you know? I hope I'm not being selfish."

Kate gets up and comes to sit next to Emily, tentatively touches her arm and smiles encouragingly. "You're not being selfish, Em. Gill loves your dad. And she loves you, too. She's always saying how lucky she is to have you in her life."

"Really?"

"Definitely. You mean such a lot to her."

Emily smiles and ducks her head. Now she's the one going pink. Sure she knows, in theory, that Gill loves her, she's heard it often enough from Gill, from her dad, occasionally (and peevishly) from her mom, but it's different hearing it from someone outside her family. It's oddly reassuring. "Okay."

Kate pats her hand. "You're a great kid, Emily. Not many teenagers are as thoughtful and caring as you are. It's not selfish to want to see the people you love be happy."

"Okay." Emily's suddenly seized by the desire to go find Gill and give her a huge hug. "Thank you."

Kate grins. "You're welcome. You all right?"

"I'm good. Thanks for listening to me ramble, I know you have work to do."

"You can always disturb me, Em. People are more important than paperwork." She winks. "And chatting with you is way more fun. I'm glad you interrupted me."

"If you're ever super bored and need someone to come and distract you, I'm sure I can help."

Kate giggles. Sometimes she comes across way too young to have the job she does, to carry such responsibility. Emily feels really good about brightening her afternoon.

"Thanks, I'll bear that in mind for the next time your dad sticks me with the boring stuff."

Emily stands up, and when Kate stands up with her, Emily gives in to the impulse to give Kate a hug.

Kate chuckles, sounds surprised, but returns the hug warmly. When they let go, she looks down at Emily and grins again. "Okay, promise me-"

"I won't tell my dad anything. Well, except the whole 'Wouldn't you be jealous?' thing."

"Actually, I want you to promise me not to worry about all this, okay? You should be worrying about boyfriends and neglecting your homework, not fixing your dad's love life. Though it's really sweet that you want to." She rests her hands on Emily's shoulders, studies her face again. "Even if this doesn't work, we'll think of something else. So eat icecream and flirt with cute boys and hand in your paper late, all right?"

Emily grins. "All right. I think I can do that."

"Good." Kate sighs and pulls a face. "I don't suppose I can convince you to stick around right now and distract me some more?"

Emily grins and shrugs. "I'm kind of feeling the urge to go and hug Gill, but maybe I can check in after. Or I'm sure she wouldn't mind you coming with, if you want?"

Kate screws up her face. "I keep telling myself I'll be grateful when it's all done, but God, it's so dull. If I start to really lose my mind, I might come find you two. Tell Gill 'hi' from me, though." Kate squeezes Emily's shoulders and lets her go.

Emily looks back as she reaches the door, and Kate's watching her with a fond expression. Emily waves and slips away. Whatever happens with the plan Kate and Gill have, Kate obviously cares. It's good to have an ally. Even if it doesn't all work out straight away... Emily has a feeling things are looking up.

_~ fin ~_

**Author's Note:**

> For the non-LTM watchers among my readers, this very short video has the conversation Emily references in the story, and a number of other classic Callian moments. It's such a seminal moment for the relationship (in the very last moments of the last ever episode! Damn you, Fox! *shakes fist*) that I thought it would be nice to have it on hand for you folks who haven't seen it in the series :) Hopefully the hyperlink will work, but I'll also paste it in in plaintext just in case.
> 
> [Do you really love her?](https://youtu.be/3PsKSsMV-4g)
> 
> https://youtu.be/3PsKSsMV-4g


End file.
